Train despatching and recording system.



" PATENTED JULY 3, 1906.

No. 824,887: x

P. J. SIMMEN. TRAIN DESPATGHING AND RECORDING SYSTEM.

APPLICATION rum) JULY 31, 1905.

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' iATENTED JULY 3. 1906.

P. J. SIMMEN.

TRAIN DESPATGHING AND RECORDING SYSTEM.

APPLICATION FILED JULY31, 1905.

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TRAIN DESPATCHING AND RECORDING SYSTEM.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed July 81, 1905. Serial No. 272.113;

Patented July 3, 1906.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, PAUL J. SIMMEN, a citi- .zen of the United States, residing at Chico,

in the county of Butte and State of California, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Train Despatching and Recording Systems, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to a train des atch- ;ing and recording system for rai-lroa s, the object of' the invention being to provide a system by means of which the position 'of a number of trains u matically recorde as the train advances along the track and with which the despatcher can signal to the engineer of the various trains.

a view, partly diagrammatic, of the apparatus applied to trains going in one direction only upon the track. Fig. 2 is an enlarged side elevation of the mechanism for recording upon a sheet of record-paper the positions of the various trains. Fig.- 3 is a front broken elevation of the same; Fig. 4 is a-diagramma ic View of a-locomotive-cab, showing in en elevation the means for making contact ith the rails and also showing the electrical rcuit in the cab for signaling the engineer. Fig. 5 is a side elevation of the same, and

Figs. 6, 7, 8, and 9 are views similar to Fig. 1,

certain parts being omitted, of various modifications of the invention.

Referring to the drawings, 1 re resents one rail of a track, which is electrica ly continuous and is electrically connected to the ground, as shown at 2. The other rail of the track is electrically divided into sections 3 of any suitable length-say from two to ten mi es-insulated from each other, as shown at 4. From the beginning of each such section a wire 5 leadsfiTtlidesfiatehefsgflicqishown diagrammatreallyfat 6,) passing through a 8, the ends of all of ese wires being connected to a common battery or generator 9, whic at the other end is connected with the ground, as shown at 10.

The armature 11 of each magnet is conswith 7 55d: olundn. lrli ielgl f m heated at the center to a rod 12, normally raised by a compressed spring 13, the lower endof said rod extending immediately over a type-Writer ribbon 14, Wound upon rolls 15 ideways 16. This by the operator as the mark made thereby on the track willbe auto,

becomes less distinct. When the train reaches ance y means of a clockwork mechanism, (illustrated diagrammatically at 20.) So long as the train remains on the same section a con tinuous line will be formed on the recording sheet, as shown at 22.

through the first section and closed through the second section, and the second pair of magnets are then energized, causing a line to be made by a corresponding armature upon a corres onding ortion of the IGCOIdlI1- sheet. The length of each line so made \Vlll indicate the length of time during which a train remains upon the same section of the track, and' the progress of the train may thus be traced from section to section, both as to its position at any time and as to the speed at which it has been traveling up to the time of observation.

In order that the en ineer may be controlled from the despatc ers office, it is provided that a bell rung before the passage .of a train onto any section indicates that he is .permitted to entersuch section. This is accomplished by means of a wire 25, connected with the axle-bearing, passing throu h a bell 26 in the locomotive-cab 27 an thence to a contact-shoe 28 which travels alongTshort rall 29, arranged centrallybetweenthe'rails of the track and connected electrically, as shown at 30, with the section upon which he is to enter. It will be seen that as the circuit through the switch 7 is closed the assage of [00 the shoe 28 onto the rail 29 closest e following circuit from the ground at 2, rail 1, axle of the locomotive, bearing therefor, wire 25 bell 26, shoe 28, short rail 29, connection-30, section to be entered 3, wire 5, switch'7, mag- 105 nets'8, battery 9, ground 10. This causes the bell to ring, and the engineer is thereby ap prised that he is (permitted to enter the section; but ifthe espatcher desires to arrest .the engineer at this point he will open the no .switch 7 corresponding to this section, the

bell will not ring at the entrance to-said sec-.- i

If the train moves l I I onto the next section, the circuit is broken In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is usetion, and the engineer will know that he is sto ped at this point.

11 order to call the attention of the engineer to the fact that he is approaching a point at which the bell should rmg, there 1s provided between the rails, but nearer to the continuous rail 1, a short rail 31, connected by a wire 32 with the rail 1, which the locomotive reaches before it reaches the rail 29. With this rail 31 there contacts a shoe 33, connected by a wire 34 with the wire 25, a battery 35 and a buzzer 36 being included in the circuit of said 'Wire. When the corresponding shoe 33 reaches this rail, the local circuit is closed as follows: rail 31, wire 32, rail 1, axle, axle-bearin wire 25, wire 34, shoe 31. This closes this local circuit and causes the buzzer to ring, notifying the engineer to be on the lookout for the audible signal from the despatchers office. If he recelves this signal, he proceeds, otherwise not. For the sake of simplicity I have, in Fig. 1, shown the apparatus as in use for trains going only in a single direction on the track namely, the direction shown by the arrow. In Fig. 6 is shown a modification in which the system is applied for trains goin in both directions, the only change made heing to provide at the break in the sections a pair of rails 29, connected each with the section in advance, according to the direction of travel, and a pair of rails 31, corresponding to the rails 29 and symmetrically situated in regard thereto.

In the modification shown in Figs. 1 and 6 1t is necessary to bond or electrically connect the ends of the rails of a track to form an electrically-continuous section of suitable length. Fig. 7 shows how the necessity of this may be avoided by interposing between the sections of the desired length short rails 38 of suitable length-say sixty feet-Which sections are connected with the wires 25 in like manner as the lon sections in the former modifications an erform the same functions, the rincipal difference being that the record ma e upon the recording-sheet is now a short line or dash 39, the length of which de ends upon the len th of the train instead 0 the long line 22, (s own in Fi 1,) the end of one of which corresponds wit the beginning of another line on another section of the paper. The necessity of bonding the other rail 1 is avoided by grounding the rail opposite to each of the short sections, as s own at 40.

In Fig. 8 is illustrated a modification in which a number of such sections may be grouped together, so as to form a substantially continuous section. For instance, proceeding from right to left, the first two sections are ouped together, and the wire common to t e same asses through a common electromagnet, t e third section is insulated from the others, and the next three sections are all united in a group of three. This would be done in order to save wiring in a case where in a portion of a travel was infrequent as compared with another portion, and therefore a much greater length of the division could be represented by a single record than at another portion of the division. It will be observed that, the recording being effected by marking dashes upon the recording-sheet instead of continuous lines, the marking of these dashes informs the despatcher whereabout on a section a train has arrived, thus permitting a long section to be represented by a single wire, while at the same time giving information as to the osition on said section. It will be observed in this modification that the width of the divisions 39 on the recordin sheet are proportioned to the length of the' sections t us grouped together. The first division of the sheet upon which is recorded the passage of a train on the first group is twice the width of the second division, corresponding to the fact that the first group contains two sections and the second only one section. The width of the third division of the sheet is three timesthat of the second division for a similar reason. The result is that should a train be moving along the track at a uniform speed the series of lines or marks formed upon the recording-sheet will form an oblique line of uniform direction similar to that shown in Fig. 8. Thus the train despatcher can tell at a glance, from the nature of the series of marks thus made, whether a train is moving along the track at a constant speed and can also, from the bend in either direction from a straight series of marks, determine whether the train has slackened or increased its speed at any point.

It will have been observed that in these modifications the signaling could only be accomplished at the end of a section. In Fig. 9 is illustrated a modification whereby a despatcher can signal the engineer at any point upon the section. For this )urpose the two short rails 29 (illustrated in Fig. 7) are substituted by two long rails 42 43, which connect to one of the short blocks. It will be seen that with this arrangement and the mechanism already described if the train despatcher should wish to signal the engineer he would have to stop the bell ringing, which would otherwise be ringing all the time. However, in ractice this would be substituted by a evice whereby the hell would ring only when the circuit was opened and would be silent when the circuit was closed. Such devices being common, it is not thought necessary to illustrate the same in the present a pllcation.

I c aim- 1. In an apparatus of the character described, the combination of a recordingsheet, a series of sections of a track, a cor division the responding series of wires leading from said sections to a point adjacent to 881d sheet, an electromagnet in the circuit of each wire, an electric generator for said circuits, means operated by each maglnet for marking said s eet, clockwork mec anism for uniformly advancing said sheet, and means for closing each circuit operated by the passage of a train over the corresponding section, substantially as described.

2. In an apparatus of the character described, the combination of a series of sec-. tions of a track, a recording-sheet suitably marked longitudinally to form divisions corresponding to the sections of the track, a corresponding series of wires leadin from said sections to a point adjacent to sai sheet, an electromagnet in the circuit of each Wire, an electric generator for said circuits, means operated by each magnet for markin the corresponding division of the sheet, 0 00kwork mechanism for-uniforml advancing said sheet, and means for closing each circuit operated by the passage of a train over the corresponding section, substantially as described.

3. In an apparatus of the character de-,

, several sections of the track, a corresponding series of wires leading from said sections to a point adjacent to said sheet, an electromagnet in the circuit of each wire, an electric generator for said circuits, mean's operated by each magnet for marking the corresponding division of the sheet, clockwork mechanism for uniformly advancing said sheet, and means for closing each circuit operated by the passage of a train over the corresponding section, substantially as described.

4. In a train despatching and recording system, the combination of a recordin sheet, a series of sections of a rail electrica y insulated from each other, another rail of the track electrically connected with the ground, a wire leading from each section to the ground adjacent to the recording sheet, an e ectromagnet in each wire, means for generating electricity in the circuits of said wires, clockwork mechanism for advancing said sheet, and means whereby a magnetic change in each magnet produces an impression upon said sheet, substantially as describe 5. In an apparatus of the character described, the combination, with the rails of a track, one of which is electrically connected to the ground, of a series of auxiliary rails suitably s aced along the track to corres 0nd wit t ereof, a wire electrically connected to each auxiliary rail and leading to a distant point and thence to the ground, a switch at said the several blocks or sections circuit so formed, substantially as described.

6. In a train despatching and recording system, the combination of a series of insulatedYail-sections forming a mechanicallycontinuous rail of a track, another rail of the track electrically connected to the ground, a wire leading from each section to a distant point, a switch at said point in the circuit of each wire, means for generating electricity in each circuit, an auxiliary ra1 connected with each section, means carried by the train and coacting with said auxiliary rail for formin a circuit between said section and the ot er rail of the track, and a' Qll controlled by the circuit so formed, substantially as described.

7. In a train despatching and recording system, the combination of a series of insulated rail-sections forming a mechanicallycontinuous rail of a track, another rail of the track electrically connected to the ground, a wire leading from each section to a distant point, as' a switch thereat in the circuit of each wire, means for generatin electricity in each circuit, an auxiliary rai connected with each section, means carried by the train and coacting with said auxiliary rail for forming a circuit between said section and the other rail of the track, a bell controlled by the circuit so formed, and a local circuit having an alarm therein, and means for closing said local circuit in advance of the auxiliar rail whereby attention is directed to the be controlled from despatgherisgffizgsub- 8mm 8. In a train despatching and recording system, the combination of a series of elec trically insulated rail sections forming a mechanically-continuous rail of a track, a wire leadin from each section to a distant point, as the despatchers ofiice, a switch and an electromagnet thereat in the circuit of each wire,'means for enerating electriclti in each circuit, a recor ing-sheet, clockwor mechanism for advancing the same, means whereby a magnetic change in the magnet marks said recording-sheet, a rail adjacent to the end of each section, and means carried with the train coactin with said rail for closing the circuit throug the wire to the despatchers ofiice, and a signal controlled by said circuit, substantially as described,

9. In a train despatching and recording system, the combination of a series of electrically insulated rail sections forming amechanically-continuous rail of a track, a wire leading from each section to a distant point as the despatchers ofiice, a switch and ;an electromagnetthereat in generating electricity the circuit of I the engineer or other officer, and means for I closing said local circuit in advance of the auxiliary rail whereby the attention of the engineer is directed to the signal in the despatchers circuit, substantially as described.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand in the presence of two subscribing wit- IIGSSBS.

PAUL J. SIMMEN. Witnesses FRANCIS M. WRIGHT. BESSIE GORFINKEL. 

